'Dignity and hope'

Airway Heights resident Sadie Reddy is the human embodiment of soda carbonation. The 23-year-old bounces when she sits, routinely throws her arms joyfully around the nearest person and brings an aura of happy chaos when she enters a room.

Bubbly, effusive and infectious, you'd never guess she was once a victim of abuse.

Reddy left an abusive relationship less than a year ago, and found the Women's Healing and Empowerment Network (WHEN) in the West Plains. Through it, she says, she discovered new things about herself and thanks to its support group for abused women and children, has a plan for her future.

"When I first got there, all I could do was cry," Reddy recalls. "It was a life-saver."

Today, Reddy coaches gymnastics and cheerleading and is in a much better place, she said. And she credits much of that success to WHEN president and CEO Mable Dunbar.

"She makes it so we don't have to be scared," Reddy said.

Dunbar founded WHEN in 2008, and since then it has expanded to offer several programs for people who have dealt with abuse. WHEN offers abuse prevention education for men, women and teens and operates Cleone's Closet Food Pantry in Airway Heights. The network also runs Frieda's Healing Center, a domestic violence shelter in Cheney, and Men of Compassion, through which abused and abusive men can receive abuse prevention education, crisis counseling and other support services.

Now the organization is hosting its first-ever fundraiser in Airway Heights, a banquet complete with a live and silent auction on Sunday, May 19. The event will feature singers and keynote speakers and raise money to support WHEN programs, Dunbar said.

Local businesses can purchase a table at the banquet for $400 and either fill it with their employees or donate it to former WHEN clients who have escaped abusive situations.

Organizers hope the banquet will draw between 80-100 people.

Dunbar's interview was momentarily interrupted when a visitor to the food pantry came in crying and Dunbar stepped out to comfort her - a regular occurrence, according to several volunteers.

Dunbar said the programs are made possible by volunteers who do everything from stock the food pantry to maintain the facilities. She also noted certain organizations in town, like the Heights Church, who help out financially.

While WHEN is technically a faith-based program, "we don't proselytize," Dunbar said. "Religion, if taken out of context, can play a great role in people staying in abusive relationships."

Dunbar has made it her mission to make sure that doesn't happen, working 50 hours a week or more at WHEN without a paycheck. The food pantry feeds about 1,800 people a month, and their domestic violence support group currently has nine members.

The organization's leaders hope the fundraiser will help in finding a home for Cleone's Closet Thrift Store, which operated until its building was sold in 2013.

"We're hoping and praying we'll find a reasonable place to start up the Closet thrift store again," Dunbar said.

WHEN programs often operate on a month-to-month basis because of a lack of consistent donations - in fact, regular contributions no matter how small are the network's greatest need, Dunbar said. But she has no intention of stopping her work any time soon.

"If we don't help, we're just continuing the cycle of abuse," she said. "We give people dignity and hope."

Shannen Talbot can be reached at [email protected].